Shauna Hunt has done the unthinkable. The TV reporter has opened a discussion on an often overlooked subject: the intimidation women often feel while watching sports.

Hunt, an on-air personality for Toronto’s CityTV, recently fell victim to harassment herself earlier this month. In the middle of live recording at Toronto FC’s home opener, a group of men interrupted her broadcast, shouting “Fuck her right in the pussy”.

Immediately after the FHRITP drop, she confronted her harassers – still live on air – and questioned their actions. Calling out their behaviour, Hunt tried to start a dialogue with the men, finally bringing to light the overlooked subject of the public degradation of women, and humiliating effect of the “prank.”

However, the men did not quite get it. “The guys’ reaction was the most frustrating part,” Hunt tells the Guardian. “They thought it was hilarious when I was trying to prove a very important point.”

When confronted by Hunt, the men refused to acknowledge their blatant harassment and verbal assault, insisting that the “joke” was “funny” and “substantial”, when it was clearly not. “The fact that they didn’t understand why this was the offensive was the most frustrating part and I am not sure that I was expecting that.” Hunt admits. “It got to the point where I realized that this conversation wasn’t worth continuing and that’s when I just walked away.”

The conversation may not have been worth continuing then, but it is worth continuing now. It is easy to be distracted by the vulgarity of these men. However, it is not the incident that should be focused on, but rather the aftermath and the impact of Hunt’s reaction. Even a week later, the dialogue continues to remain vital.

Women in sports stadiums, particularly football stadiums, have been subjected to this sort of abuse for years. They are often put in uncomfortable situations that may not seem physically threatening, but is often emotionally and psychologically damaging.

Imagine: being in a public zone where having strange men call out, “fuck her right in the pussy” is tolerated. Or worse, acceptable.

On paper, it seems almost unimaginable, however in stadiums it is the norm. Conventional manners are often disregarded at games, and harassment and abuse are rarely challenged. Until Hunt did last Sunday.

“Because of the F and the P bombs, I knew that this would get some attention,” Hunt says. “But no one could have predicted that it would be this widespread.”

And “widespread” is not an exaggeration.

After the video was posted online, internet groups quickly identified the perpetrators. Within 24 hours, they were named and tried by public opinion. While criminal chargers were not pursued, one of the men was sacked from his six-figure, government-based job.

Regardless of your opinion on the public vigilantism, it did send one message: the harassment, humiliation, and degradation of women in football stadiums would no longer be tolerated.

Since the Toronto FC home opener, both men and women have come forward to support Hunt. However, women in particular are finally able to voice the negative treatment they felt they may have endured at games.

And this “treatment” goes beyond explicit verbal abuse, such as FHRITP. There are more subtle ways women are made to feel humiliated and demeaned in stadiums. After all, even the Fifa president Sepp Blatter confessed that “football is macho.”

“I think what’s often overlooked is the sexism that isn’t overt,” Kirsten Schlewitz, a freelance writer for SoccerGods recognizes. “I encounter a lot of men who simply talk down to me. They don’t say ‘you can’t know this because you are a woman,’ but rather they make assumptions: I don’t watch games, I don’t understand a certain league, or I haven’t watched this or that player’s progression.

“It’s not the same as FHRITP, but I feel this is what goes unnoticed: a culture in which men simply feel they are superior to women. It’s everywhere, of course, but in the sports world, the environment is such that it’s almost not even noticed.”

But it is beginning to be noticed. And while there is still a long way to go for equality within the football stadium, we are starting on the right path by recognizing these issues are there. And taking a stand against them.

“Overall, the reaction has been so positive and that is what we were going for when we took the stand,” Hunt says. “It was about sparking this really important conversation about harassment of women and respect. And it’s happening globally right now. I hope it changes. We took a stand hoping it would change. The reaction has been so powerful from so many people.”